Machine for splitting grain



(No Model.)

L. GATHMANN.

V MACHINE FOR SPLITTING GRAIN. N0. 25 L812. I Patented Mar. 14.1882

\ UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS GATHMANN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOR SPLITTING GRAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 254,812, dated March14, 1882.

Application filed June 27, 1881.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LOUIS GATHMANN, ofChicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvementsin Machinesfor Splitting Grain; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification.

This invention relates to disk-machines for coarsecracking, splitting,or degerminating grain; and it consists in the combination, with asmooth disk having furrows, the bottoms of which incline to the1a11d-faces,of an opposing disk having radial flutes or rounded grooves,whereby the grain is more positively seized and borne over the ridges orlands of the op posite disk, substantially as hereinafter more fully setforth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view of the fluteddisk-face. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the two opposing disks in workingrelation in a vertieal axised machine, portions of the case being shownin central vertical section. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a preferredform of furrowed disk to be used in opposition to the fluted disk. Fig.4 is afraglnentary view of the opposing disks in vertical sectiontransverse to their grooves and furrows, showing their action uponwheat.

Ais a disk, made of iron, steel, porcelain, or any other suitably hardmaterial, having a central feed-aperture, A, and a marginal skirt, Aprovided with radial or inelinedflutes or rounded grooves a, of uniformwidth, and placed as near to each other as possible at their inner ends.

B is an opposing disk, of hard material, capable of being given asmoothsurface,having an elevated margin or skirt, B, corresponding in widthwith the skirt A of the disk A, and provided with feeding-furrows I),the bottoms of which are inclined at an easy angle to the level of thelands 1). The surfabe of thelands and of the furrows bis smooth, so asto not abrade the grain integument as it passes over them, and so as toallow the latter to slip thereon freely-in the operation hereinafterdetNo model.)

scribed. The disk B is preferably the runner,

and is in that case provided with ribs b in the bosom, arranged todirect the grain into the furrows I). Said disk B, as here show-11, isof a special construction, more fully set forth in another patentof evendate herewith. Briefly stated,such special construction consists, first,in the feedin g-furrows b terminating inside the margin of the disk, sothat no escape of the grain therefrom is possible, except over theadjacent land or ridge 1); and, second, in the deep, abrupt, walledrecesses 0, one following each landb, and extending from a point outsidethe inner margin of the skirt B, and. opening broadly at the margin ofthe disk, whereby the grain which passes over either one of the lands isat once discharged. The lands or ridges b are of equal width with eachother and throughout the length of each, so that all kernels of thegrain mass are equally acted upon. While I prefer to use this form ofdisk in opposition to the fluted disk A, any ordinary or other formhaving the inclined-bottomed furrows b may be employed.

The purpose and effect of the fluted grooves a in the disk A, whencombined with the disk B, having inclined -bottomed furrows b, is tocatch the grain-kernels as they rise the incline of said furrows, toturn said kernels so that they will pass the lands nearly or quitelongitudinally therewith, and to positively retain them until they havepassed and been split by pressure from the lands b. To this end saidflutes a are sectionally less than a halt eircle, so as to hold down thekernels therein retained against the opposing land or ridge 1), and soas to allow the kernels to spread therein in the act of splitting. Thesize of the flutes will of course be determined by that of the grain tobe split. For whole wheat they should he, say, three-sixteenths'of aninch in breadth at the face of the disk and, say, one-sixteenth of aninch in depth. The distance at which. the op posing disks will besetapart is estimated from the bottoms of the flutes a to the opposinglands 1). The faces a of the disk A, which intervene between the flutesa, perform no work, but are made smooth in order that a kernel caughtbetween said faces and the incline of the opposite furrows may slidethereon until reached and caught by the next adjacent flute. When theoperation is upon wheat or other similar lobated grain the eifect is tosplit the kernels through the crease.

In Fig. 4, d 61 represent whole kernels of wheat, and d d half-kernelsor fragments of wheat, passing or having passed'the point of splittingpressure.

In the splitting of wheat for the purpose of detaching the germpreparatory to further reduction, it is especially desirable that thehalfkernels shall be discharged as soon as produced and without furtheraction upon them. Wherefore t he special form of furrowed and recesseddisk 13 here illustrated is particularly adapted for this work. I

While I prefer the arrangement shown of the disks A and B on a verticalaxis, the axis of said disks may, if desired, be horizontal.

2. The combination of the disk A, having the grooves a, of fluted orrounded form, and the disk 13, having the alternating furrows b, lands1), and recesses (J, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS GA'IHMANN. Witnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, J EssE 00X, Jr.

